Novels Now

Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery by Susan Juby
Pages: 339
First Published: Sept. 19, 2008 (CAN), Sept. 30, 2008 (US)
Genre: YA, realistic fiction
Rating: 4/5
This book came as an extra. I had requested two YA books from the publisher and they were packaged together with this one as a boxed set of […]

Popularity: 4% [?]

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“I ask for nothing but a kiss,” he said, his voice still calm and low, but his eyes dimmed. “Mouth to mouth. You might hold your stake between us if it would make you feel more as ease, Venator.”
“Perhaps I would slam it into your heart and send you to Hell, then,” Victoria replied, her […]

Popularity: 7% [?]

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Far World, Book 1: Water Keep
by J. Scott Savage
Shadow Mountain, September 2008 (ARE)
Fantasy (YA); 419 pgs
One of the first things I do when I crack open a book is to read the dedication. This one I read out loud to my husband and he immediately zeroed in on the mention of solving Ultima games. […]

Popularity: 7% [?]

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“It’s a sudden loss of muscle control,” is how I would always begin, feeling cornered, “while remaining conscious. It’s as if your body’s faintin’ but you’re not.” [ pg 24]
Aberrations by Penelope Przekop
Emerald Book Co, 2008
Fiction; 241 pgs
Angel Duet is 21 and everything she believed and thought she knew is about to change. […]

Popularity: 7% [?]

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Jolted by Arthur Slade
Pages: 203
First Published: Aug. 11, 2008
Genre: YA, mystical reality
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
Newton Starker knew that he would likely die from a lightning strike.
Comments: For generations the Starker family members have been killed by lightning strikes. As a matter of family pride the family also names the children born to the female members […]

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Starclimber by Kenneth Oppel
Third in the Airborn series
Pages: 356
First Published: Sept. 2, 2008 (Canada) / Feb. 24, 2009 (US)/ March, 2009 (UK)
Genre: YA, science fiction/fantasy
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
Rising into the wind, I flew, Paris spread before me.
Comments: This time around Matt and Kate are on a special mission for the Canadian government. The space race […]

Popularity: 10% [?]

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The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
Pages: 468
First Published: Aug. 5, 2008
Genre: Magical realism
Rating: 4.5/5
First sentence:
Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.
Comments: I think that is an amazing opening line. How could you not read on after that? The process of reading the book was pure joy from the first page. The writing exquisite and […]

Popularity: 13% [?]

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He believed he had already lived long enough. He thought he was over the age of thirty - Jacob Howard was thirty, and they had been born around the same time - and Cassius looked that and more. He now studied the land as if he would never see it again, and tried to memorize […]

Popularity: 13% [?]

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Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
Pages: 170
First Published: Sept. 16, 2008
Genre: YA, realistic fiction
Rating: 5/5
First sentence:
This is how things look: Shady Pines Apartments, four shabby buildings tucked off the road near the highway.
Comments: This is an immensely powerful and disturbing story told from the point of view of a fifteen-year old who was abducted by […]

Popularity: 16% [?]

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The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
I would guess that the Man Booker judges committee this year all like the same kind of book: wry commentary on society, first person narrative, confessional story, with lots of dark humor. The White Tiger had the same tone and feel to me as A Fraction of the Whole […]

Popularity: 16% [?]

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